New Bedford man charged with double homicide in Maine

Maine authorities have charged a New Bedford man with two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of the mother of his four children and a longtime friend, also from New Bedford.

BRIAN FRAGA

Maine authorities have charged a New Bedford man with two counts of murder in the shooting deaths of the mother of his four children and a longtime friend, also from New Bedford.

Joel Hayden, 29, was arrested Wednesday after he was released from Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he had been under police guard since he crashed his vehicle during a car chase Monday night in Lyman, Maine.

Hayden was taken to Cumberland County Superior Court for his initial court appearance, then transported to the Cumberland County Jail in Portland, officials said.

Hayden, who has a long criminal history with prior arrests in Massachusetts and Maine, is charged with fatally shooting his girlfriend Renee Sandora, 27, the mother of his four children, who died Monday night from a gunshot wound to the head.

The couple's 7-year-old son witnssed the shooting and ran around helplessly while his three younger siblings were strapped into a car in the driveway, according to Maine state police.

A neighbor told police the boy was running around in the driveway saying "don't shoot," then "don't leave" before a car sped off.

Police charge that Hayden also fatally shot Trevor Mills, 28, of New Bedford, outside Sandora's home at 322 Bennett Road in New Gloucester, about 12 miles north of Portland. Mills died Tuesday night, police said.

Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, said autopsies for the two victims are scheduled today at the State Medical Examiner's Office.

McCausland said police officers who responded to the shooting around 6:30 p.m. Monday found both victims in the front yard.

"Based on information we developed, we began looking for Hayden and the vehicle we thought he was driving, a black Cadillac that was registered to Mills' mother," McCausland said.

Authorities spotted the vehicle, registered in New Bedford, on the highway, prompting the high-speed chase that ended when Hayden crashed the Cadillac into a culvert, causing him to sustain a serious back injury, McCausland said.

Hayden was "not in his right mind" and called his brother during the car chase to ask why the police were after him, said his mother, Marie Hayden of New Bedford.

McCausland did not comment on the circumstances surrounding the shooting.

Marie Hayden said her son and Mills — both longtime friends from New Bedford — had recently had a falling out and that her son felt threatened by Mills, who frequently drove to Maine and insinuated he was interested in Sandora.

McCausland said Joel Hayden and Sandora had a history of domestic violence, with the young mother of four — ages 2, 7 and 3-month-old twins — having filed several abuse protection orders against Hayden. She did not have an active protection order Monday night, McCausland said.

According to a state police affidavit, a woman called police to report her boyfriend had shot her and a man. At one point during the 35-second call, the woman was heard asking someone "Are you going to kill me in front of my kids?" before the phone went dead.

Marie Hayden said her son had moved to Maine to spend more time with his girlfriend and their children, who are in the custody of their maternal grandparents.

Both Mills and Joel Hayden have criminal records in New Bedford, with prior arrests in shooting-related cases.

In January 2004, Hayden was charged with shooting his mother's boyfriend during a domestic argument in New Bedford. Last August, New Bedford police arrested Hayden on charges of threatening to cut the same man with a glass jug.

The case was later dismissed by a probation officer's recommendation, court records said.

Mills was scheduled to appear in New Bedford District Court on Sept. 19 for an assault and battery case. He had 16 prior criminal cases in New Bedford, including an arrest for a 2005 drive-by shooting that wounded a man in the North End.

Superior Court records indicate Mills was sentenced to serve three years in state prison after pleading guilty to discharging a firearm and other illegal gun offenses in October 2007.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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